Japan Heritage story
Kurashiki: a textile town that grew from one cotton flower
一輪の綿花から始まる倉敷物語
Four hundred years ago, Kurashiki was sea. Cotton planted on the reclaimed land made its merchants rich, mills brought Western technology, and today it ships more textiles than anywhere else in Japan, from school uniforms to jeans.
Key facts
- Theme
- Sea and waterside, Textiles and dyes, Food and sake
- Era
- Edo, Meiji
- Region
- Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 一輪の綿花から始まる倉敷物語
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- ～和と洋が織りなす繊維のまち～
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 岡山県（倉敷市）
The story
Southern Okayama was once a shallow sea dotted with islands. As it was reclaimed from the Edo period on, the salty new land was no good for rice, so farmers planted cotton and igusa rush. Kurashiki became shogunate land in 1642, and merchants trading cotton along the Kurashiki River canal built grand white-walled houses. At nearby Tamashima port, about 90% of trade was cotton.
In the Meiji era, Japan's first private spinning mills opened at Kojima and Tamashima in 1881, and in 1889 Kurashiki Spinning (today's Kurabo) was built on the old magistrate's office site with the latest British machines. Weaving skills turned into clothing: by the early Showa period, Kojima made about 90% of Japan's school uniforms, and after the war it sold the first Japanese-made jeans.
What to see
- Kurashiki Bikan quarter: white-walled merchant houses, old landing steps and stone lanes along the canal.Google Maps 倉敷美観地区 (opens in a new tab)
- The former Kurashiki Spinning mill: Western-style mill buildings set among the white walls.Google Maps 倉敷アイビースクエア (opens in a new tab)
- Kojima: the home of Japanese-made jeans and school uniforms.
Plan your trip with the Okayama prefecture guide and see more history and heritage.
Good to know
- Look for the old landing steps and stone night lanterns along the canal, traces of the river port.
- Kojima is the place to shop for Japanese denim.
- Look for kinkanen, finely patterned rush mats invented in Kurashiki in 1878.
Questions travellers ask
Why did Kurashiki grow cotton?
Land reclaimed from the sea was too salty for rice, but cotton and igusa rush grew well on it.
Is Kojima really the home of Japanese jeans?
Yes. Kojima's sewing industry sold the first jeans made in Japan after the war and is known as the birthplace of Japanese jeans.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Fukiya: the birthplace of Japan Red
- Japan's old schools: where a nation learned to read
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Okayama, where the Momotaro legend was born
- The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- Wakanoura: a bay of views that inspired poets
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.